Edwin Encarnacion, left, and Jose Bautista have sparked the Blue Jays offense, which leads the major leagues in home runs. / Tom Szczerbowski, USA TODAY Sports

by Ben Nicholson-Smith, Special for USA TODAY Sports

by Ben Nicholson-Smith, Special for USA TODAY Sports

TORONTO - It has been awhile since the Toronto Blue Jays were a legitimate threat to win the American League East.

That was all supposed to change in 2013, but their offseason makeover netted an ugly 88-loss season. It was a brutal year, and when the team responded with one of its quietest offseasons in recent memory, expectations dipped further.

The Blue Jays could have finished last in the American League East again without surprising too many of their fans. But something unexpected has happened. Thanks to a powerful lineup and an unpredictably effective pitching staff, the Blue Jays led the American League East with a 39-27 record through Tuesday. And they expect to contend all year.

"I've always known we had a good team," starting pitcher Mark Buehrle says. "I thought the same thing last year, so obviously I was wrong. The way guys are swinging the bat, everything's coming together."

Through Tuesday, the Blue Jays led the major leagues in home runs and ranked second in runs scored because of what might be the best right-handed power-hitting duo in the game: Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion. Bautista, a two-time AL home run champ, had 15 home runs and a .978 on base-plus-slugging percentage (OPS), but Encarnacion topped him in tying Mickey Mantle's AL record with 16 home runs in May.

It's tough to post a .947 OPS quietly, but Encarnacion comes as close as anyone could in doing so.

"Every now and then he'll get loud, but that's very rare," manager John Gibbons says. "He's a workman, and he's a late bloomer."

Like Bautista, Encarnacion had his breakout season (2012) at age 29. It wasn't until three years after the Blue Jays acquired him as a throw-in from the Cincinnati Reds in the Scott Rolen deal that Encarnacion emerged as an elite power hitter, and it took even longer for him to gain much recognition.

"I didn't realize he was that good of a player until last year," Buehrle says. "He's everything you could ask for. Offensively and defensively, he's awesome."

When right fielder Bautista and first baseman Encarnacion are producing, there's a trickledown effect in the batting order.

"Jose and Eddie have been so hot that you can see other pitchers trying to pitch around them, and it just creates opportunities for everybody else," says designated hitter Adam Lind.

Jose Reyes, limited to 93 games last season because of injuries, had 14 steals in 15 attempts and has finally looked like the complete player the Blue Jays hoped to acquire in their blockbuster trade with the Miami Marlins two winters ago. Melky Cabrera, who served a 50-game suspension for testing positive for elevated levels of testosterone in 2012 and played with a benign tumor in his back last year, was batting .303 with a .344 on-base percentage as Toronto's No. 2 hitter.

The bottom of the order includes Brett Lawrie, Colby Rasmus and Juan Francisco, who had combined for 30 home runs.

"It's like playing a video game with a cheat team and everyone's 100 level," top pitching prospect Marcus Stroman says.

If there's one Blue Jays pitcher with video-game numbers, it's Buehrle, 35, who had a 10-2 record and a 2.04 ERA despite an 83-mph fastball and an array of slow breaking pitches.

And while Buehrle has been the staff's best pitcher, Toronto's others starters also have helped make last year's 4.81 rotation ERA a distant memory. Knuckleballer R.A. Dickey, who had a 4.20 ERA through 14 outings, says the starters are striving to match Buehrle's remarkable consistency from start to start.

"We all have a little confidence and momentum, and that always helps," Dickey says.

Contending teams often feature a pitcher or two who exceeds expectations, and the Blue Jays owe some of their early success to two 23-year-old right-handers. Drew Hutchison had a 3.96 ERA through 13 starts after missing the 2013 season to recover from Tommy John elbow surgery. He has been Toronto's second-best starter behind Buehrle.

Stroman recently joined Hutchison in the rotation. Though he stands 5-8, he throws 95 mph and dominated in his first big-league start. "He's on a mission," Gibbons says.

The same could be said of the Blue Jays, who hope to reach the postseason for the first time since 1993.

While the numbers suggest the likes of Buehrle, Dickey and Hutchison can't keep preventing opponents from hitting homers at hitter-friendly Rogers Centre, the Blue Jays will be well-positioned if their starters regress.

The starters have had support behind them. Led by closer Casey Janssen, Toronto's bullpen pitched well in May to recover from an ugly April in which relievers cost the team games. Even if Brett Cecil and Steve Delabar don't replicate their All-Star seasons of 2013, the bullpen could become a strength now that Dustin McGowan, a former starter with an injury history, has become an effective reliever, compiling a 3.62 ERA in 2013 and 2014.

More important, after years as the undisputed toughest division in baseball, the American League East suddenly looks winnable.

The rotations of the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays have had injury issues.

The lineups of the Boston Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles haven't produced the way they did in 2013.

All told, every team except the Blue Jays has fallen short of expectations.

With a potent lineup and a respectable rotation, there's ample reason for hope in Toronto for the first time in a while.

"I look at the team out there this year and think it's a better team," Gibbons says.